Dear family and friends,
This one is going to be more like an essay. I guess my regular form of emailing doesn't always work for what I artistically/emotively feel I would like to express, and thus CAMBIARE DE VEZ EN CUANDO (it will change from time to time). When I opened my call and learned that I was going to CA, my first reaction was-- I am going to be SO WEIRD. I think it's pretty safe to call Southern California the opposite of New York, and though I'm not exactly a New Yorker, I am definitely an east-coaster, and I definitely stick out. I guess the really important thing I've realized this week is that, God sent me here to change. He didn't just send me here to help other people change their lives, God sent me out here so I could change ME. I may have mentioned that before in the MTC, but this was a very different kind of realization. In the MTC, I realized how much more Christlike I needed to be; and that's a lot of what the first few weeks of training were. But the last few weeks of training have been more about me learning to accept that 1) I'm human, and I am not perfect and that 2) one of the reasons God sent me to California is so that I could learn to have FUN. What? Rachael Lindsey went on a mission to learn to have FUN? Who woulda guessed! This past week we had interviews with our mission president and in mine, he said (and I quote) "Sister Mullen and I want you to ENJOY your mission. We want you to have FUN. Missionary work should be FUN." I literally was so blown away by that. Here I was, driving away at the plough thinking that I needed to be doing more, and my mission president tells me I need to be having fun. Now of course, it's not that he doesn't want us to work hard-- he just wants us to have fun while we are doing it. And in the past few days I've been thinking about meaningful ways I can do that. I've even made a few jokes! (Who knew I could even do that?) And yesterday, I made an important decision, that I guess I am putting in this email so that I will be accountable not only to myself, my companion, and my mother-- but also to the greater circle of my world. I AM GOING TO GROW OUT MY HAIR. Yesterday, we were in a lesson with a recent convert couple who have a relative that is dying from cancer. As the father who is the brother of this woman showed me a video of her in the hospital...I made this slightly stressful realization that I never got over my experience with cancer. Everything that happened in 2012. I never got over it. I thought I had after my trip around the world, but I hadn't-- not really. All of that was just preparation for this. Sometimes I wonder why God would have let me ravel myself up only in order to be unraveled again after the end of two years-- but maybe that is the only way I would have been able to understand that, as a sign in the mall said today-- "FUN MATTERS." In 2 Nephi 2:25 it says,
"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy."
If the very purpose of our existence is joy-- then I must be doing something wrong if I am fighting against it-- no? What does my hair have to do with all this? Well, as my lovely friend Laura Wanamaker so cleverly figured out, I was cutting my hair because I was sad. And so, perhaps, if I want to be truly happy, I need to let it grow out. And, finally, I need to, (now quoting the infamous "Frozen") "LET IT GO!"
They're having us do zone activities once a week, and today we went bowling. Last week we went hiking. Who knows what we'll do next week! These activities are kind of an enforced way in which I HAVE to be doing something fun for 3-4 hours, so if I don't have fun at it-- that's my agency-- but if I'm gonna be there anyways, then I might as well have fun!!
And Hna Gates and I are coming up with even more ways to enjoy the missionary journey. Interpretive dancing in the car is usually involved. Oh yeah and by the way-- a guy selling funions asked us to marry him the other day. Apparently even being on a mission can't save you from proposals! haha...but you know what. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT FUNNY MOMENTS LIKE THAT? You'd go crazy. That's what. Missions are so hard that you just have to have fun. Cause if you don't you really do go crazy! And with that... some updates
1. We're still teaching the part member family with the atheists and the boyfriend who will probably get baptized next month. Teaching them is literally one of the craziest experiences I've ever had in my life but it is AWESOME
2. The 9 year old boy we've been teaching (his mom is a member) is getting baptized next week and we've basically reactivated their whole family which is AWESOME. I CANNOT WAIT
3. We've found 2 new solid investigators. This is a MIRACLE because we have been really struggling with finding the past few weeks of this transfer.
4. We got a referral from a couple of atheists on the street. Just goes to prove that you shouldn't ever forget to ask "Is there anyone you know who might benefit from this message?"-- cause even if they don't think they need it, they might know someone else-- who probably does. I thought that was AWESOME. Plus it was the first time I actually said to random strangers on the street "We're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (because Hna Gates usually says that part and then I explain a concept or something) so that was cool
5. We have transfers coming up so next week I could be in a totally different area, though probably what will happen is that Hna Gates will go somewhere else and I will stay. But WE WILL SEE I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED!!!
oh and PS this week I ate a jalapeno pepper because I was like "Well, might as well take this having fun thing seriously" hahahahah man I just realized how paradoxical that sounds.
Anyways, I'm studying the art of fun for now. Learning from all these hispanics, and then of course from the Elders. Considering that usually when I put my mind to learning something, I learn how to do it-- I will probably legitimately know how to have fun by the time I get home.
haha anyways, I hope you all are doing really great. I miss you guys more than I'd like to tell you. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES
LOVE AND BIG HUGS
Hermana Lindsey